Stereophile "Recommended Component" 2006

Get "Stronger Music and Blacker Silence"

Don't plug your sophisticated hi-fi or home theater component into a $1.89 mass-produced wall receptacle. Replace that dubious duplex with the PS Audio Power Port. The Power Port is a custom-built, hospital-grade, isolated-ground, 15-to-20 amp receptacle that can make an improvement in your audio/video system's performance and ensure a life-long level of performance.

The Power Port earned inclusion in the coveted Stereophile "Recommended Component" listing for April 2006. Stereophile's Art Dudley tried the Power Port with his amp and CD player and marveled at the resulting "stronger music and blacker silence, with a slight overall improvement in listening ease." Art notes in his November 2003 "Listening" column that he was so impressed with the performance that "all the AC receptacles in my home that feed hi-fi components have now been changed over to PS Audio Power Ports."

One Serious Duplex Receptacle

From materials to engineering, the Power Port is one serious duplex receptacle. The perfectionists at PS Audio give each of the contacts 15 separate coats of nickel and 15 separate hand polishing operations to eliminate oxidation and tarnishing problems for an incredibly reliable connection. The Power Port is a certifiable Hospital Grade outlet. Its contacts have the "grip of Mickey Mantle" to make sure sufficient tension is maintained on any male plug inserted into the Power Port.

The Power Port also has an isolated ground. That means the ground connections of your AC plugs are not common to the strap that affixes the outlet to the wall housing. In many homes, the boxes that contain the receptacles are grounded through the house wiring or the metal pipes that contain the wiring, leaving you little or no control over grounding. The Power Port is fully isolated. You can even get fanatical if you want to and separate the top and bottom receptacle of each duplex Power Port. This allows you to run a separate dedicated circuit to the top plug as isolated from the bottom plug. Use the top plug for digital, the bottom for analog, for example.

Easy Installation

Power Ports are easy to install and will prove to be one of the best improvements you can make for such a small investment of both time and money. Full installation instructions are included, but here's the gist of it. Turn off the power to the outlet. Remove the cover plate and pull the existing receptacle out from the box. Disconnect the wires, then connect them to the Power Port. Reverse the removal procedure and you're done.

The Power Port is completely UL listed and safe to place in any home. Power Port is 20 amp ready, but can be used in any 15-amp circuit, too. You can run anything from a 10-amp to a 20-amp circuit and still be perfectly legal and approved. In fact, you can even run a 15-amp circuit on the bottom plug and a 20-amp on the top plug, or vice versa.

PS Audio Classic Power Port Premium AC Wall Receptacle - Item # PSPP

"Switching my amp and CD player back and forth between the upgraded [Power Port] receptacle and a nearby one in original condition yielded the same differences consistently with all kinds of music: stronger music and blacker silence, with a slight overall improvement in listening ease. Not a big difference, but a consistent difference, and always a step in the right direction."

"Replacing the outlets that feed my Quads had an even bigger effect, which surprised me. Whether those original outlets happened to be in worse shape – science be damned, but I'm not about to switch receptacles back and forth on the same wires and outlet box – is nearly impossible to tell. Yet I was sufficiently convinced that I asked PS Audio if I could buy some more Power Ports for my other system."

"All the AC receptacles in my home that feed hi-fi components have now been changed over to PS Audio Power Ports."

I installed this AC outlet for a home theater set-up, but have not yet installed the rest of the theater components. Instead, I hooked a CAL DAC and a Knight integrated tube amp to test any audible improvements. After listening to a couple albums I noticed a broader soundstage that contributed to the over all instrument placement -- as well as a deeper/more articulate bass response, especially for a tube amp of this era. The build quality is hospital grade and even heavy plugs fit very snug.

- Nathanael L, CA

Easy affordable tweak

I have this outlet run direct to the BRKR box and is the only outlet on a dedicated Home Theater circuit. These are easy to install and I was able to notice that the floor noise lowered as a result. The outlet itself is built like a tank and bullet proof. It will securely hold your power snakes in place and not allow them to slip free. If you are lookning to tweak in your system, power is some thing you should strongly consider. Be it an AC line conditioner, power cables or this outlet. I am very happy with it and I will NEVER own or set up a system with out one again. And to back up what one of the other reviewers stated, PS Audio is a top notch company that produces top quality reference products and stand they behind what they MFG.

- Busychild L, VA

HIGHLY EFFECTIVE UPGRADE

Hello,
I bought one of these back in Richmond, VA. in 2002 directly from PS Audio for the standard price of $49.99. They are a very pleasant company to deal with. I had never done something like this before, so I was a little concerned about wiring it in. It was extremely simple. Amen !! The first step, as it always should be when wiring in new receptacles, was to turn off the circuit in the breaker box for that outlet and then to verify that it was indeed out. Once verified as no longer being operational, I stretched the wires as much as possible, cut off the old and highly oxidized copper wire ends, stripped about 3/8 off the insulation, and sanded the wire with 220 grit sandpaper all around it and in all directions to make sure that it was fully clear of any remaining oxidation, chemicals from the insulation, etc. I did the same with the ground wire too. I also labeled which wire went where; i.e. this one goes to the upper left terminal, this one goes to the lower right terminal, etc. Once wired, I slowly and gently pushed it all back into the junction box and put the cover back on. Now for the test ... turning on the power again. There was no smoke, smells, or fire ... thank God ... and all of the other lights on that circuit still worked just fine. Cool. Time to plug the components into the Power Port. Talk about a tight grip on the plugs ... it is physically difficult in a good way though to plug them into the PP as it grips the plugs like a vice. Trying to remove them is just as hard, but again for a good reason as the contact they make by gripping the plugs so tightly is amazing. So is the immediately and hugely noticeable improvement in the sound. It was as if there was a vacuum of silence in front of me that felt like it was pulling the breath out of my lungs. It was like a giant, gaping vacuum was in front of me that drew me into the stage and the music like never before, or since for that matter. It literally made such a huge difference improvement in the sound that it was like I had replaced the preamp with a much better and quieter one. The sustain and decay of notes, cymbal crashes in particular, just kept going and floated off into space. It offered so much clarity and depth and quietness to the system, music, and magnified the enjoyment of listening many times over in comparison to not having it. It was instantly impressive. Even my father and wife said so as we had just listened to the same few songs at the same volume level before hooking it up. The air and space around the musicians was made much clearer and defined and the imaging improved greatly as we could now more easily discern not only where each person was at, but how he or she was turned or facing and how the instrument being played was oriented. We could listen at much lower levels ... deep into the late evening ... and hear so much more that we couldnt hear at all before, or if we could, not without much more haze and hash to it and sounding muffled and fuzzy due to the noise on the line. I would never have an audio or a video/home theater system without a PS Audio Power Port. They really do make that much of an immediate improvement. Upgrading interconnects or speaker cables has never made that big of an improvement for me at least. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

- Tom F, PA

Great Audio/Video Accessory

Great way to upgrade your power outlets for all areas where audio or video equipment is connected to AC voltage. Compliments and works well with component style power conditioners and backups. Highly recommended. Also recommended by Stereophile magazine.